V. Witness Accounts of Arbitrary Killings by the Military

Human Rights Watch documented eight incidents involving the arbitrary killing of 59 men by the military.[49] According to witnesses, all of the victims were Muslim men, most were young, and, according to witness accounts, nearly all were unarmed at the time of the killings. Witness statements from four of these incidents are described below.

Incident 1: Rikkos (Angwan Damisa)

Human Rights Watch interviewed five witnesses in the Rikkos neighborhood, each giving an account independent of the others, who saw the killing of eight men by a soldier in the Nigerian army on the morning of November 29.[50] One of the witnesses described what happened:

I saw a dark green military vehicle pull up on the road with five soldiers. This was around 10 a.m. Seven people were coming from the direction of the mosque. When they saw the military, they ran into a house. My brother was behind them and also ran into the house. At the time they [the people who ran into the house] were carrying nothing in their hands. One of the military men went into the house and brought them out of the house to the road. The military man told my brother to stand to the side. He then shot the group. Some were hit in the chest and stomach. He then said to my brother, "You go." When my brother started moving, he shot him in his leg. My brother went down. He then shot him in the side and the chest. He was shot with three bullets and died at that time. The military man then turned and left. He shouted that everybody should enter their houses. Later in the day, the JNI [Islamic authorities from the Jama'atu Nasril Islam] came in a vehicle and took the bodies to the Central Mosque. They were all Hausas between the ages of 18 and 25. My brother was around 40 years old.[51]

Incident 2: Ali Kazaure

Human Rights Watch interviewed eight witnesses who saw four soldiers enter the Ali Kazaure neighborhood around 11 a.m. on November 29. According to the witnesses, the soldiers entered three houses on two adjacent blocks and killed 25 young men in the three houses and shot and killed two men in the street.[52] Human Rights Watch interviewed witnesses to each of these shootings and visited the houses where bloodstains were still clearly visible on the floors, chairs, or benches.

The owner of the house where five men were allegedly killed by the soldiers described to Human Rights Watch what he saw on the morning of November 29:

On Saturday, after 11 in the morning, I was standing across the street from the room where my sons used to sleep. I saw four military coming. They were wearing green camouflage. I heard gunshots and went into the compound across the street. When I came back I saw the door of the room was open. There were four bodies inside and one body of a man at the door who was injured. He later died. We took four other injured men to the neighbor's house and later to [Jos University Teaching Hospital]. [We] took the four bodies of the dead to the Central Mosque. The military came on Sunday including the general. They asked what had happened and collected the cartridges.[53]

At the second house, witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the soldiers killed eight young men in the house.[54] Human Rights Watch researchers found bloodstains on the chairs and on the ground behind a sofa. In an adjacent room, there was a large bloodstain on the floor with a boot print in the blood. Neighbors also showed Human Rights Watch a spent bullet casing they had picked up at the scene. One of the residents of the house described what he saw that day:

On Saturday, we were sitting in our house. There were 10 of us and we were all Hausas. The door was open and four soldiers came into the house. They were wearing green camouflage uniforms and green hats. Three of them had guns and one of them had a camera. The soldiers told us to come out. Four of my friends went out but I stayed inside. I heard the soldiers tell my friends to kneel down and the soldiers started cussing at them. I heard one of my friends begging them, "For God, please allow us." I then heard gunshots. We were looking for an exit, but the soldiers came inside and shot us. They shot me twice in the leg. The soldiers then went outside and I heard them tell someone that "[i]f you don't stop burning houses, this is what we will do to you."[55]

Witnesses described how on the morning of November 29 soldiers entered the courtyard and two rooms of this house in the Jos neighborhood of Ali Kazaure, allegedly killing eight young men in total and leaving bloodstains on the floor, wall, and furniture. © 2008 Human Rights Watch

A room adjacent to that in the previous photograph in the house in the Jos neighborhood of Ali Kazuare where eight men were allegedly killed by soldiers on the morning of November 29. © 2008 Human Rights Watch

Bloodstained cardboard and mats in a side room of a house in the Jos neighborhood of Ali Kazuare where 12 young Muslim men were allegedly killed by soldiers on the morning of November 29. © 2008 Human Rights Watch

The soldiers are alleged by witnesses to have killed 12 men inside the third house. Two women interviewed by Human Rights Watch described what happened:

On Saturday, November 29, around 12 noon, we heard gunshots, but we couldn't tell where they were coming from. There had been problems in our neighborhood since Friday. Things were going up and down. There was lots of confusion. That morning people had been fighting outside and some of them had run inside our house to hide. Suddenly two soldiers dressed in soldier clothing jumped over our back wall and entered our compound, while at the same time a third one broke through the front door…. They started searching the rooms of the compound shouting, "Give us a chance! We are looking for the men hiding inside this house…. Where are they?" Then two of them asked if there was anyone in the bedroom. We said no, but they went into the bedroom and found the son of the owner, 18-year-old U., who was hiding in the bed. Then they shot him right there in the bed, inside that room. One of the soldiers had a camera around his neck and after shooting U., he took a picture of him. After this, they left and went to the room in the front of the house. We heard lots of gunfire and learned there had been many people killed there. Some of those killed lived there, while others had sought refuge from the troubles on the street.[56]

Another witness confirmed to Human Rights Watch that he heard gunfire around 11 a.m. on November 29. He then heard people crying that many people had been killed at the house. He went over to the house and saw 11 dead bodies in the front room. The bodies were later taken to the Central Mosque.[57]

Incident 3: Rikkos (Gadan Katako)

On the morning of November 29, military soldiers in Rikkos arrested 16 Muslim men. The soldiers marched the group down the street and, according to witnesses, killed 10 of the detainees at various stages along the way. Human Rights Watch interviewed separately three of the six survivors of the death march.[58] One of them, a local shopkeeper, described what happened:

On Saturday, around 9 a.m., I was on my way to my mother's house. The military stopped me and asked me where I was going. They searched me and found nothing and told me I could go. As I continued to my mother's house I saw the military had arrested 15 people. When they saw me walking alone they arrested me and put me with the others. The soldiers were wearing green military uniforms. I don't know how many soldiers there were because they would not let us look at them. The soldiers told us to go. As we started to leave, the military opened fire on us. Five of us at the back were killed. The military said we shouldn't run. The rest of us started walking fast. We were all in a group. They shot again and two people died. As we continued forward toward Tina [Junction], they shot three more. Two of them were dead and the other was shot in his bladder and was injured. When we arrived at Tina Junction they started beating us. The police came-mobile police and conventional police-and took the six of us to CID [Criminal Investigation Division]. At CID they beat us but not [as] much [as] the military. The man who was injured died at CID and the police ordered that they should take him to JUTH [Jos University Teaching Hospital] mortuary. The same day they took us to the prison yard. I was held at the prison yard for 35 days.[59]

Incident 4: Laranto Divisional Police Headquarters

Human Rights Watch interviewed two police officers separately who witnessed a soldier summarily execute an unarmed man at the Laranto Divisional Police Headquarters.[60] The incident took place on the morning of Friday, November 28. One of the police officers described to Human Rights Watch what he saw that day:

I was assigned to the police station by the Katako market. A police inspector arrested a Hausa man and brought him to the front of the police station. One of the soldiers asked the inspector what the man had done. The inspector said that he had found him with a cutlass. The soldier then shot him in the chest. This happened on Friday around 11 a.m. I saw it. The acting DPO [divisional police officer] was also present. After shooting the man, the soldier said, "Anybody you see with a cutlass, you shoot him."[61]